Intimacy and Sex

1
Intimacy and Sex
2
The Development of Intimacy in Adolescence

• Changes in the Nature of Friendship
• Companionship appears before adolescence
• Intimacy emerges later

3
The Development of Intimacy in Adolescence

• Changes in the Display of Intimacy
• Youngsters friendships become more personal
• Friends become more interpersonally sensitive
• More emphasis on trust and loyalty as defining
  features of friendship

4
The Development of Intimacy in Adolescence

• Changes in the Targets of Intimacy

5
The Development of Intimacy in Adolescence

• Friendships with the Other Sex
• Intimacy with friends increases
• Intimacy with romantic partners also increases
• In individuation, teens may seek intimacy outside
  the family?an identity beyond their family role

6
Dating and Romance

• Dating? why is dating important?
• Types of dating
• Group datesgroup of boys and girls go out
  jointly
• Casual dating as couples
• Serious involvement with a steady

7
Dating and Romance

• More adolescents experience mixed-sex group
  activities like parties or dances than dating, or
  having a serious boyfriend or girlfriend

8
Sexuality as an Adolescent Issue

• Physical changes in puberty and growth of
  sophisticated thinking capabilities influence
  sexuality during adolescence

9
Trends in Sexual Activity During Adolescence

• Stages of Sexual Activity
• autoerotic behaviorhaving erotic fantasies
• Sociosexual behaviorsorderly progression of
  sexual activity with another person

10
Trends in Sexual Activity During Adolescence

• Changes in Patterns of Adolescent Premarital
  Intercourse over Time
• The greatest increase in the prevalence of
  premarital intercourse has been among females

11
Trends in Sexual Activity During Adolescence

• Attitudes became more liberal during the
  mid-1960s and early 1970s
• Early adolescence intercourse is increasing
  substantially
• Less acceptance of double standard

12
Trends in Sexual Activity During Adolescence

• Sexual intercourse during high school is now a
  part of the normative experience of adolescence
  in America

13
Number of partners

• Majority 1
• 20 - 4 or more
• 10 - 6 or more

14
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Psychological and Social Characteristics of
  Sexually Active Adolescents
• TRUE OR FALSE Numerous studies show that sexual
  activity during adolescence is associated with
  psychological disturbance

15
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Psychological and Social Characteristics of
  Sexually Active Adolescents
• Early sexual activity correlates with
  experimentation with drugs and alcohol, a low
  level of religious involvement, tolerance of
  deviant behavior, a lower interest in academic
  achievement, and a higher orientation toward
  independence

16
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Parental and Peer Influences on Adolescents
  Sexual Behavior
• Parental attitude has relatively small impact
• Parental attitudes have impact on discussion of
  sexual activity
• Divorce increases rate, as does living in single
  parent household

17
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Sex Differences in the Meaning of Sex
• Boys view sex as ???

18
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Sex Differences in the Meaning of Sex
• Girls view sex as ???

19
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Homosexuality during Adolescence
• Over 90 percent of youth develop an exclusive
  preference for heterosexual relationships by the
  end of adolescence
• Homosexuality can be distinguished by an
  exclusive preference or as an interest that may
  exist simultaneously with strong heterosexual
  interests

20

• A common misperception
• a person is either heterosexual or
  homosexual
• Sexual identity as a continuum from exclusively
  heterosexual to exclusively homosexual (Kinsey,
  1948)

21

• Sexuality shaped by biological, psychological and
  social factors
• Occurs early, is relatively fixed, difficult to
  change
• Psychoanalytic theory arrested development
• No evidence to support this
• Some evidence of increased cross-sex-typed
  behavior in childhood
• Prenatal exposure to hormones (girls)
• Birth order and number of male sibs (boys)
• Genetic influences
• Brain differences

22
Homosexuality as an adolescent issue

• For boys, average age of same-sex crush was 12.7
  and average age of self-realization was 12.5
  (Newman Muzzonigro, 1993)
• For girls and lesbian women, the first same-sex
  crush and realization of sexual identity came
  later in adolescence (Diamond, 1998).

23
Stages in the Development of Sexual Identity
(Cass, 1984, Goggin, 1995)

• Stage 1 Sensitization
• Stage 2 Identity Confusion

24

• Stage 3 Identity assumption
• Stage 4 Commitment

25
Sexual Identity and Mental Health

• Coyle (1993) Large study of young gay men in
  the UK. Gay men had significantly poorer mental
  health than a control group
• DAugellie and Herschberger (1993) 42 of the
  young gay and lesbian people participating in
  their study had attempted suicide in the PREVIOUS
  YEAR!

26
BUT . . .

• Coyle (1998) reminds us that it is not the sexual
  identity itself that is related to these mental
  health problems. Instead, it is SITUATIONAL.

27

• High levels of victimization for gay teens
• Verbal 80
• Physical 17
• Levels of victimization negatively correlated
  with self-esteem
• Family support, self-acceptance buffered relation
  though

28
Relationship issues

• Lesbian couples more egalitarian, more likely to
  view issues similarly
• Very little difference between children of gay
  and straight parents
• Children of lesbians somewhat higher in many
  areas
• 90 of adult sons of gay fathers are straight

29
But what if you dont want to be gay?

• Reorientation therapy
• Homosexuality considered a mental disorder until
  30 years ago
• Treatments
• Pair homoerotic stimuli with shock therapy,
  nausea, etc
• Spiritual therapy
• Goals of treatment
• Eradication of same-sex fantasies, behaviors
• Management of fantasies to allow heterosexual
  lifestyle
• Celibacy

30
Problems in studying reorientation therapies

• Non-random samples
• No follow-up studies
• 30 success rate, how measured?
• What happens to other 70?
• Decrease self-esteem, chronic depression,
  relationship problems, sex problems

31
Social issues concerning reorientation therapy

• LGB community why treat a non-disease? Why not
  heterosexual reorientation therapy?
• The disease is social influence, not individual
• BUT what about those for whom homosexuality is
  inconsistent with values framework?
• Ex-gay movement the truth can set you free
• Harmful to gay rights?

32

• For some less painful to attempt to change
  sexual identity than to leave their religion
• Anti-gay religious doctrines anti-religion
  backlash in LGB community
• Easier to come out as gay in church than come out
  as religious in LGB community

33
APAs viewpoint

• Right of LGB clients to unbiased treatment
• Rejection of treatments that view homosexuality
  as mental illness
• BUT individuals have right to choose conversion
  therapy as form of diversity and autonomy
• When a client presents with discomfort about
  sexual orientation, the psychologist should not
  reflexively attribute the distress to the
  clients sexual orientation itself or
  automatically agree to a clients request to
  change sexual orientation.
• Strickland, 2002

34

• Some people wanting conversion therapy may
  actually just need accurate info about lives of
  LGB people
• Gay-affirmative therapists need to take religious
  experiences seriously
• Ideally, integrate spirituality and sexuality
  into self-concept
• If not, develop treatment goals (managing
  homoerotic impulses in context of marriage, etc)

35
The Sexually Active Adolescent

• Sexual Harassment, Rape, and Sexual Abuse during
  Adolescence
• Sexual harassment is widespread within American
  public schools
• Individuals who commit dating violence, were
  likely to have been exposed to physical
  punishment and abuse at home

36
Rape

• 10 of white girls, 5 of Af.-American girls
  have been forced to have nonvoluntary intercourse
  by 18.
• Living apart from parents before age 16
• Physical, emotional, or mental limitations
• At or below poverty level
• Parents abuse drugs or alcohol

37

• 25 of all females and 10 of all males have been
  forced to engage in SOME FORM of nonvoluntary sex.